EDITOR’S NOTE: This article includes mention of suicide. Those in distress may call the phone numbers listed at the end of the report. BAGUIO CITY—The mysterious death of former public works undersecretary Catalina Cabral has prompted growing concern over the handling of evidence by police and the transparency of the investigation. Cabral was discovered unconscious...
Tag: flood control scandal
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Ex-DPWH official Cabral dead just as bicam produces ‘corruption-free’ budget
On the day Congress came one step away from approving the proposed “corruption-free” ₱6.793-trillion national budget for 2026, a former official of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) being investigated in connection with the anomalous multibillion-peso flood control projects fell to her death from Kennon Road in Tuba, Benguet. The body of former...
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Committed writing and the necessity of resistance
EDITOR’S NOTE: These remarks were delivered as a message from the family at the close of the 5th Edel Garcellano Conference with the theme “Resistance, Contradiction and Critique: Committed Writing Now,” held at the Ateneo de Manila University last Nov. 29. It’s extraordinary that the conference honoring Edel Garcellano and his work is now on...
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Budget reform advocates urge the bicam: Abolish unprogrammed appropriations
With the first-ever open bicameral conference (bicam) set to start on Dec. 13 to reconcile the Senate and House versions of the proposed ₱6.7-trillion national budget for 2026, reform advocates have one distinctive call: for the bicam members to abolish unprogrammed appropriations (UA) in the budget measure that have been the source of “insertions” and...
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Prayer rally in Naga calls for justice and accountability in flood control mess
NAGA CITY—John Oliver Mimay, 32, and 13 others travelled for five hours from the town of Irosin in Sorsogon to this city to join a prayer rally against the widespread corruption involving politicians in infrastructure projects undertaken by the Department of Public Works and Highways and private contractors. The group composed of volunteers from the...
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‘Allocable’ funds are the new pork barrel
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) builds bridges that connect people, streetlights that make roads safer, and classrooms that serve schoolchildren. In the agency’s words, it is their mission to bring about “a comfortable life for Filipinos through safe, reliable and resilient infrastructure.” But recent congressional investigations have exposed the true nature of...
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Let’s hear it from the President’s mouth
In a surprising turn, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. personally announced the Sandiganbayan’s issuance of warrants for the arrest of ex-Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co and 17 others in connection with an anomalous flood control project in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro. It was an obvious effort to demonstrate control of the raging corruption scandal. But in the...
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What’s taking so long, Bongbong?
The first strike was at the State of the Nation Address (Sona) last July, when President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. appeared to be scolding the corrupt, blurting out so confidently, “Mahiya naman kayo!” only to be met with resounding applause and loud cheers by the people he was addressing. It was a curious moment, patently Pinoy...
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Zaldy Co makes bombshell claims, Roberto Bernardo names more names
Zaldy Co begged off from participating at the resumption of the Senate blue ribbon committee inquiry into the flood control corruption scandal on Friday, supposedly for health reasons. But three hours into the hearing, the former Ako Bicol party list lawmaker who has been out of the country since July surfaced in a video on Facebook...
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To demand the facts and make correct sense of the corruption scandal
So much stuff to process, so little time before the next explosive detail erupts. Filipinos are called upon to make correct sense of the corruption scandal now approaching crisis proportions. That means educating themselves in how the plunder of taxpayer money was pulled off in flood control and other infra projects, and by whom, and...